Juan Cole sees signs of hope for American tolerance

Rick Warren: "I love Muslims . . . I happen to love Gays and Straights".

Juan Cole writes:

"I was in Long Beach,Ca. on Saturday for the annual conference of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, where Pastor Rick Warren and I were both headliners.

"Also appearing on the stage Saturday evening were Melissa Etheridge and Salman Ahmad, singing Ring the Bells."

Read the article for a different take on Rick Warren. Cole learned some things about him, and explains why he think Obama chose him. Etheridge and Warren are talking to each other and Cole sees signs of hope for turning Warren around from his homophobic ideas.

Happy Solstice, everybody.

Comments

[John Ballard]

Good catch.

I just finished a post with very much the same intent.

http://hootsbuddy.blogspot.com/2008/12/rick-warren-invocation-comment.html

The notion of simple tolerance has taken a beating over the last several years. There was a time when tolerance was on everyone's list of virtues but polarization has taken a savage toll.